RapidTech 3-D modeling (Image 22)

A cast metal part for a Formula SAE® competition car, created from a student-designed 3-D printed wax model at the National Center for Rapid Technologies (RapidTech). Formula SAE is a student design competition that promotes careers and excellence in engineering while encompassing all aspects of the automotive industry, and takes students out of the classroom and allows them to apply textbook theories to real work experiences.
RapidTech is an Advanced Technological Education (ATE) center located at the University of California, Irvine, and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Saddleback College. The center has more than 20 pieces of equipment that help both academia and industry adapt modern manufacturing technologies to civil engineering, biology, the arts and other areas that dont typically take advantage of such techniques. It has already produced everything from medical devices to architectural models to entertainment items, as well as serviced traditional sectors such as aerospace and automotive.
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RapidTech seeks to develop and advance additive manufacturing and related technologies. While the center's primary purpose is teaching students advanced manufacturing techniques and providing low-cost help for businesses, it also specializes in 3-D modeling where users can design and perfect a prototype quickly. For the modeling process, a printer uses digital input from a computer to create a 3-D, solid object that forms in thin layers. To create the object, a printer head exudes a small amount of plastic or other material while making several passes, creating a new layer with each pass, until a recognizable form begins to take shape. In addition to saving time, the modeling process saves money by eliminating the step of forging a metal prototype--and possibly repeating the procedure one or more times to correct imperfections.
Both academia and industry use RapidTech's equipment, adapting modern manufacturing technologies to civil engineering, biology, the arts and other areas that don't normally use this type of technique. For example, Airflow Systems, a small business that designs, builds and sells FAA-certified aircraft equipment, needed vintage aircraft parts that had not been produced in decades. The parts were for a 1938 Japanese Zero fighter plane, slated for inclusion in a restoration project at an aviation museum in Oregon. Working with the original parts, which were pitted, corroded and incomplete, each piece was scanned, defects were corrected and a 3-D representation was produced.
RapidTech hsa also helped commercial businesses. The center assisted the water sports equipment company Hobie Designs Inc. with developing a carbon fiber paddle based on a partial design, which the lab was able to extend across the entire item. "The 3-D scanning, computer-assisted design and prototyping process helped us deliver this new concept as fast as we could conceive it," said Hobie Designs President Jeff Alter.
And a movie studio in North Hollywood that designs characters for video, animation and films such as "Shrek" and "Harry and the Hendersons" has worked with RapidTech a number of times to create digital sculptures. The studio owner stays in touch with RapidTech to keep abreast of new technologies available using 3-D printing, thus gaining an edge in a very competitive field.
These are just some examples of how rapid prototyping, which is emerging as a core-enabling technology, is supporting the design, development and manufacture of numerous products. [Research supported by NSF grant DUE 11-04305.] (Date of Image: 2006-present)
Credit: RapidTech